I gave him small sips of water, slowly, the way you give water to someone who has gone too long without it.

I cleaned him, and changed the sheets, and made him as comfortable as I could, and I called his medical team while I worked.

Then I went to the kitchen and warmed a bowl of broth, and I brought it back and fed it to him a spoonful at a time.

“Where is my mother?” I asked, between spoonfuls.

Raymond closed his eyes, and the exhaustion in his face went all the way down.

“They went on a trip,” he said.